Oh the joys!

Well!  If you are reading this, I assume you’re sitting down,  now before you continue reading I’d like you to review what is around you;  make sure you’ve created yourself a safe space - so you won’t knock anything over or when/if  you fall off your chair you will land on something soft, if you’re drinking something maybe stop – so you don’t spit it out all over your screen! 

Do I have you sufficiently excited yet? 
(In my mind I hear a roaring “YEEEEEEeeesSSSS!!! Come on Kayla, get on with it already!”)

OKAY well this month has had it’s share of stressors, the most recent larger one has been a package that my mother sent me at the beginning of the month.  Customs decided that they wanted it, I was informed over the phone on December 14 that if I didn’t have an explanatory letter(and apparently saying that it was Christmas and my family wanted to send me something was NOT a good enough explanation as the woman on the phone rudely told me), translation, and some permission letter from the Costa Rican Ministry of Health by December 15 that my package and all it’s contents would be destroyed!  You can imagine my horror…I had ONE day to get all these documents – some of which would be next to impossible.  Have you ever needed a letter from the Ministry of Health to receive a present in the mail?!  No, me neither!  As it turned out, there had been an issue with the paperwork and so the package was being treated like a commercial shipment.

Now you may be thinking, “Oh Kayla, so dramatic, it’s just some cards and a colouring book, let it go”  weeeeell yes and no.  You see this package also held my childhood stocking – which holds a lot of value to me and a new debit card (I have not been able to take out money from an ATM since October – things have been veeeery tight the past little while).  So, knowing there was no way I’d be able to get the necessary permissions in one day, let alone, one day during Christmas week, I suggested that the package be returned to the sender.  Thinking that at least it wouldn’t be destroyed; only to find out that the Shipper was going to charge somewhere around $300 CAD to get the package back.  I was quite discouraged. 

Fortunately, on the 16th I got a call saying the package was not being destroyed but rather being placed in abandonment until the proper paperwork came.  That the items that were offending Customs (the reason the package was held in the first place – I presume) could be removed and they would send me the rest of the contents!  Great news!  Unfortunately, when I had heard the package was to be destroyed I had called the bank and cancelled the card (the term ‘destroyed’ has different meanings to different people, i.e.. open and claim what you’d like..).  So I played it safe and cancelled and requested a new card (which we are praying comes to me, here in Costa Rica, by the end of the month!). 

So the package was opened and a list of the offending items was made, I signed it saying it was okay to leave those items.  I was told it would take about 24 hours for the package to be released as long as everything went smoothly… haha!  Last week I was told that Customs was saying I’m not registered with them, so they need to do that – it usually takes a day (that initial 24 hours) but for me it had already been over a week…

Last night I was discouraged, thinking about all the things that should be working smoothly, but aren’t, how I've handled things, basically, i was getting bummed out (I’ve been calling the Shipper’s local number multiple times a day do ask about the package – make sure I’m not forgotten (which is normal to do) but it takes it’s toll.  So last night I was laying in bed, talking to God “Hey buddy, what’s going on with this, I’m tired, I’m sick, I don’t know what else to do here….”  I decided that today I would fast all day and see if I got some news, I prayed about how God knows that I’m tired and this shouldn’t be as big of an issue as it’s been.  Then I rolled over and said “NO more thinking, analyzing etc., now I will sleep in peace!”  And i did!!!

So this morning I wake up, dreading the phone call I have to make to Stephanie (the worker who has been with me since the beginning, she’s delightful, but recently has been the bearer of all the bad news haha) so I was laying in bed, deciding if I would call just the once today or twice.  I had been feeling like maybe i was being given the run around, which is common here, that perhaps they weren’t even doing anything and just blaming everything on Customs.  *Phone rings…. I look at the number, it’s Stephanie… I thought “Oh no, what is wrong now?”

“Allo??” (Hello with a Canadian/Spanish accent)

“Hola! Kayla!?  Your package was released today, it’s en route!”

*Jaw drops*  Oooh Lord you work fast, I hadn’t even started my fasting and extra extra intensive prayer plan for today!  

Excellent!  I hang up and am overwhelmed with happiness and since there was no one to hug, my blanket serves as the substitute!

Then I’m wide awake, so excited, God took care of this issue, so I take to my devotional (Jesus Calling, Sarah Young) because I’m just so happy I want to see what it says for today:

“TRUST ME with every fiber of your being!  What I can accomplish in and through you is proportional to how much you depend on Me.  One aspect of this is the degree to which you trust Me in a crisis or major decision.  Some people fail miserably here, while others are at their best in tough times.  Another aspect is even more telling: the constancy of your trust in Me.  People who rely on Me in the midst of adversity may forget about Me when life is flowing smoothly.  Difficult times can jolt you into awareness of your need for Me, whereas smooth sailing can lull you into the stupor of self-sufficiency.
     I care as much about your tiny trust-steps through daily life as about your dramatic leaps of faith.  You may think that no one notices, but the One who is always beside you sees everything – and rejoices.  Consistently trusting in Me is vital to flourishing in My Presence.”

Psalm 40:4  “Oh, the joys of those who trust in the Lord…”

“..when I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.  I praise God for what he has promised.  I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?”  - Psalm 56: 3-4

Psalm 62:8  “O my people, trust in Him at all times.  Pour out your heart to Him for God is our refuge.”

Isaiah 26: 3-4  “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You…”

What a refreshing and encouraging reminder!  I am not alone, and even the trivial things – like a package from home are also important to God. 

Well we thought it was over….after writing this, I saw the company’s truck pull up, raced outside to go get my present!  Only to have it waved in my face and be told that to be able to release the package to me I need to pay (in cash) 62,155.55 Colones (which is about $125 CAD)…I don’t have that kind of cash on hand and therefore wasn’t able to pay, meaning that I saw the present and then watched it drive away.  Left with only a bill in hand and wondering why I hadn’t been told beforehand of these charges.  I had a feeling there would be something, but since nothing was mentioned, I decided not to worry.

Anywho, I guess the waiting and praying will continue…I was hoping to end this with a picture of my present BUT instead I guess we will use it as prayer fuel and hopefully everything can be settled today!

Lima, Llamas, leaders, love, laughing, Latin Link…

what do these all have in common?  They all begin with the letter L!!! AND I experienced all of them during my time in Peru this past month!  It should be officially noted, I quite like Peru, it was so pretty, the mountains are breathtaking!
November flew by!  I had visitors, travels, and a lot of planning for the three Striders that are coming very early next year!  Essentially, tripling the work load I had last year at this time!
The beginning of the month I hosted a Latin Link coordinator from Scotland (he was quite involved with the STEP team I had last April)  he wanted to go see where the team had been, so we went North and the trip was just excellent.  Poor Martin, though,  was trapped in the car with me for a little over 12 hours (total)!   He survived and walked away very encouraged – aside from the day we took him into the back country (in flip flops) and he stepped on an ant hill…we wore him out!  During the visit we got to spend a little time with one of the host families whose daughter (a mother of two young children, see picture: she’s in the pink shirt. her mother is to her right and the woman on my right is the late pastor’s wife* the pastor who passed away during the April Step Team earlier this year) was dying of cancer – it was very serious and the doctors had given up and told the family to buy the funeral clothes and casket.  This year has been very trying on the family, I had tried to visit before and never found them available.  To my surprise and the glory of God, I take Martin up to see the family and who do you think comes waltzing out of the house while we are there?!  The daughter!!!  She’s walking, eating, gaining weight, she was healed!  She herself explained what happened – she doesn’t remember any of the visitors she had or really the time there.  Her mom told me that when they took her off life support she woke up.  The daughter told me that it was like she had been sleeping (dreamless) and then she breathed in something so rich and decadent, it was like the purest oxygen she’d ever experienced.  She woke up and immediately wanted to eat, had energy…the whole deal!  The family and medical team had given up;  now she’s at home with her family and travels 6 hours to the local hospital here in San Jose once a week for testing to ensure that she is in fact healing (which she totally is but the doctors want to keep tabs as miracles aren’t accepted by everyone!  It was so exciting, we’ve been praying for them since April and to see such a 180 degree change is SO encouraging!  God is so good!
After Martin’s visit it was off to Peru for the Latin Link Leadership Conference and crisis management training.  It was so lovely to meet so many people from all the teams in Central and South America!  We had time to share experiences, resources, get some training, it was all in all a very lovely time! (To see more fotos click the following link https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153803614714165.1073741832.512119164&type=1&l=e45bf9fbd9)
After spending an unexpected day in the El Salvador airport I made it safely back to Costa Rica, with all my new resources and a refreshed outlook on the upcoming months!  Then it was time to meet the Short Term Coordinator for Latin America Mission (Canada)!  She lives in Canada and so we had a good visit and a little logistic strategizing regarding missionaries that LAM will send to Costa Rica.  For those of you not familiar, I work for 2 missions agencies: Latin American Mission (Canada) as well as Latin Link (European), most of my time here on the ground is spent with Latin Link.  I will be assisting LAM with short term missions more in the future, by checking in on their short termers, locations, host families, etc.  I’m excited and looking forward to this next step!

This year has had a lot of emotional ups and downs, times where I have seriously questioned my sanity, discernment, myself in general.  There have been doubts, moments of pure joy, fear, you name it I’ve probably dealt with it this year.  Something that struck me this month during one of my devotionals was that it is important to give God time to respond I just finished up my time in the book of Job this morning (haha yes I’ve been there for a few months, there’s just so much to get out of it!) and after all the agony and questions God finally responds to Job.  He reminds him that he is God, he’s got everything under control!
*Whoa talk about great timing I literally just got back in from stepping outside because for the past hour or so someone has been pounding on a door and as I am trying to write a lovely update post the constant BAM BAM BAM was not very helpful!  So I finished up that last paragraph and went to see what the ruckus was about.  I walked over to find an abuela (grandma) to my neighbour’s kids exhausted and trying to open their front door – she’s been kicking it for about an hour *insert unimpressed expression and I went over and I asked her if she was alright and she goes “I can’t open the door…and I can’t get out of the complex because the keys are in the door” haha so I asked her if I could try and she repeatedly goes “do you think you can get it?!?!?” I tell her I’ll give it a shot.  I turn the key one way, no good, she loudly reminds me not to break the key in the door – which up until that point had been my plan of attack…So! I changed the plan and turned the key the other way *click click…and the door opens!  Voila!  Kayla to the rescue!  Sometimes you just need an outside perspective, someone to come in – oh I've just had an epiphany!  Sometimes we are trying to push ourselves through a door and we just can’t seem to get it to open (figurative door of course), we’re pounding and kicking, fighting to get in.  Like this abuela, then, exhausted from trying to do it alone, allow someone else to help.  We say “God I cannot get this door to open!  He either says “Well you’re not supposed to go through it, hence why it’s locked…”OR “Let me give it a shot” and he opens it for you!  The Bible tells us that God will lead us on the best pathway for our lives (Psalm 32:8) sometimes we’re so busy trying to pound down doors we forget to ask the one who has all the keys.  Or we don’t wait for him to respond, we figure we can handle it ourselves.  Some things take time and we need to give God the opportunity to respond, we bombard him with questions and don’t always give him the space to answer, to open a door, to remind us it’s closed for a reason…
I pray that as you enter this holiday season you will remember to take time to reflect on the doors in your life and whether or not you, like this abuela, are relentlessly pounding instead of asking for help.  Or perhaps the door’s not opening because you have the keys to the wrong apartment or you just need to spend sometime outside enjoying the sunshine :)

Merry Merry Christmas!!!

Ps.  Prayer requests would be that God would give me wisdom and and open the right doors so that I can help to ensure these new Striders will have great placements and really enjoy their time here in Ticolandia!